


Let's Go to the (Space) Mall!

by SomeonetheElusiveFangirl



Series: Voltron Headcanons [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (until he does), M/M, POV Alternating, Pre-Season/Series 03, Shopping, Space Mall, a load of fluff really, a teensy bit of homesick lance (like a sentence lol), awkward boys, idk - Freeform, keith couldn't care less about casual clothes, kind of, klance, lance is picky, long headcanon, my tenses are probably all over the place, sorry - Freeform, surprisingly no angst, teammates to sparring partners to ..., the ending is so cheesy, you'll just have to read to find out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 21:52:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13843767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeonetheElusiveFangirl/pseuds/SomeonetheElusiveFangirl
Summary: The paladins return to the space mall for some well-overdue shopping and there's a surprising lack of drama for once. However, more changes happen for Lance and Keith than just their clothes.





	Let's Go to the (Space) Mall!

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a headcanon for [@vamdates](https://vamdates.tumblr.com/) last summer before season 3 for the prompt: Voltron team goes shopping for new clothes at the space mall.
> 
> Needless to say the headcanon got a bit out of hand... (I finished it twice before the actual ending, but Juliann just kept encouraging me to add more)
> 
> Anyway, this is my first time actually posting something I've written anywhere other than [my Tumblr](https://someonetheelusivefangirl.tumblr.com/), having been convinced to do so half a year ago and only now following through.

It’s during a lull in the paladin’s work when Lance suggests the shopping trip, because, whilst he enjoys the store of clothes in the Castle (the lion slippers and dressing gowns are on point), the clothes are simply not designed for human teenagers (especially poor Pidge who has trouble with the sizes). Moreover, whilst they may be teenagers, they really ought to stop wearing the same outfits for weeks on end (seriously, why does Shiro not bring this up?! He’s 6, but he’s lived as long as an adult).

Anyway, after a lot of puppy dog eyes and with support from Hunk and Pidge (who is the key to winning Allura over), they make a return trip to the “space mall”, and this time it is Coran who stays behind since Allura is starting to go stir-crazy with staying cooped up in the Castle so long.

When they arrive, Lance is about to offer to take Allura around, when she suddenly grabs Pidge and makes a break for it, not trusting Lance’s fashion sense ( _rude_ ). Luckily, this time the paladins were able to bring some GAC as they had sold some of Hunk’s culinary treats to anyone who had shown interest during the team’s quieter times. It takes a few seconds for Shiro to realise that Allura and Pidge hadn’t taken their share so after quickly giving Hunk, Lance and Keith their GAC, he heads off to try and find them. Lance and Hunk share a shrug before wandering off, Keith following behind them since, though he’d never admit it, he’s a little cautious of the mall since their last visit.

Eventually they come across a clothes store and Hunk is quite quick to pick out a new outfit. Lance, however, spends a long time browsing through the aisles. It seems nothing suits his tastes, or rather there was _something_ wrong with every item that caught his eye. Either it was the neckline, the sleeve length, the _number_ of sleeves, the “too short” trousers, the “too long” shorts, the wrong hue of purple, the fastenings were too complicated, the pattern was too loud or the design was too plain. He just never seemed happy. Occasionally he’d look at something for a long time, lip caught between his teeth as he tilted his head in thought, before he’d shake it and move on.

After at least an hour, Hunk found Lance to tell him he was heading off to the food court.

“Oh, haven’t found anything, Keith?” Hunk asked over Lance’s shoulder and Lance turns in surprise to find Keith behind him. How long had he been there? Sure enough, Keith’s hands were as empty as Lance’s own.

“Ah, no I uh, I’m not really sure what to get…”

“Just choose whatever takes your fancy!” Hunk called back as he made his way out of the shop.

“I can’t believe you haven’t found anything yet,” Lance exclaimed as he turned back to face Keith. He really didn’t seem like the picky type. “Oh, and just how long have you been following me?!”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Keith quipped, gesturing to the lack of clothes in Lance’s possession.

“Well, that’s, uh, it’s… it’s just different with me! Now go on, find some clothes and we’ll meet back here in 20 minutes!” With that decided, the two of them split up.

*25 minutes later*

Lance sighed for the umpteenth time as he held three shirts aloft. He’d already picked out some plain black trousers (the only ones that looked like they might fit), but he just couldn’t pick from the shirts. All the clothes had unusual cuts and colours that Lance had never tried before. If only his sisters were here… Lance immediately shook that thought away. This really wasn’t the time for that. Pulling out his “space mobile” (as he had dubbed the small device), he sighed again at the time displayed. Still undecided, he took everything to the meeting spot, hoping to come to a decision before they had to go pay.

When he turned the corner, he found Keith waiting for him with… could you call those clothes? They resembled armour and… underwear? Of _course_ Keith couldn’t just pick something _normal_ …

“What do you mean?!” Keith squawked defensively. Oops, he must’ve said that out loud.

“ _What_ have you got?!”

“New training gear,” Keith stated, as if that were obvious.

“You don’t need training gear, plus we have our paladin armour!” Keith shot a glare at Lance.

“It doesn’t look like your decision making went any better.” Lance ignored Keith’s comment in favour of grabbing his elbow and dragging Keith down the aisles. He grabbed a couple of shirts and a pair of ¾ length trousers as he passed through. He span around to face Keith, who jumped, having just accepted his fate to being dragged around.

“These,” Lance started, shoving the clothes towards Keith, “are the kind of clothes you need.” Keith caught the clothes before they fell to the floor and looked at them uncertainly. Whilst he was relieved Lance hadn’t picked anything too vibrant or garish, Keith really had no idea whether the clothes would suit him, never mind be the right size. “Well? Come on, don’t be shy! You can thank me,” Lance crowed.

“I don’t know if they’ll fit,” Keith admitted.

“There aren’t any changing rooms. If there were, I wouldn’t be having any trouble,” Lance muttered bitterly. If he could just _see_ himself in the clothes, he’d just _know_. However, with things as they were, he’d just have to take a gamble and hope they looked alright on him. “But that doesn’t matter, I _know_ these will look good on you!”

“…the material doesn’t seem very durable.”

“These clothes aren’t for you to spar in! These are just casual clothes. They’re meant to be comfortable and look good.” Keith ‘hmm’ed, casting glances between Lance’s pick of clothes and his own. Unable to bear his obvious indecision and reluctance, Lance quickly snatched Keith’s choices.

“Hey!” He snapped, falling quiet he watched Lance look over the clothes, holding them out towards Keith as his mouth twisted in concentration. Finally he put the trousers, one of the shirts and the armour away, thrusting the red and black vest on top of the pile in Keith’s arms.

“Now you can be cool in and out of training,” Lance declared with a smirk, before his face suddenly contorted as what he’d said caught up to him. “N-Not that _I’d_ ever find you cool, Hothead! The least I can do is stop your appalling fashion sense from making you look any worse! We don’t need you embarrassing the team!” Keith remained silent during Lance’s rambling, rolling his eyes at the awful attempts at insults. He barely ever felt any anger at Lance’s jabs now, even the annoyance was wearing thin. He thought of Lance’s nickname for him, something he’d use a lot back when they’d first started as paladins, but had begun to be replaced by others such as Mullet, Samurai or, god forbid, maybe even his own name. He found it much easier to keep his head since joining and having to be subjected to Lance’s aggravating taunts every day. Maybe there was an upside to being stuck with him 24/7…

After Lance had finally quietened down, Keith looked back down at the clothes, straining to recognise the alien numbers.

“How many GAC do we have?”

“500 each.”

“I think this is 620 GAC.” Lance peered over the numbers, groaning when he got the same number. He looked over all the items, but couldn’t pick one to sacrifice.

“I’ll just give you 120 GAC. You can pay me back next time,” he sighed resignedly, Lance’s voice holding a tone that left no room for arguing, and although that normally wouldn’t stop Keith, his surprise certainly did.

“Thanks,” he blurted. Lance waved it off, muttering about how it was nothing. As he did, Keith attention was drawn to Lance’s arm holding his own clothes. “Are you still able to afford all that?” Lance glanced down, seeming to have forgotten his own shopping. He groaned as the total came to 480 GAC.

“You really don’t have to give me any of your share,” Keith insisted, upon hearing his groan. “I can always get one of these when we next come back.”

“But we don’t know _when_ we’ll be back! Or when we’ll manage to get enough money again!” Lance looked back down at his clothes, fiddling with the fabric of one of the shirts. “I just won't get one of these.” Keith watched as Lance held the shirts against himself, struggling to look down. Keith cast an eye over the shirts, judging how well the colours suited Lance.

“These two.” Lance’s head shot up before looking down at the two shirts Keith was pointing to.

“Really?” He had meant for it to come across as disbelieving, but Lance felt his cheeks heat up at the unsure, almost vulnerable tone of his voice. For goodness sake, this was a shirt. Without another word, he put down the other shirt and stalked off to the cashier, waiting for Keith to catch up so they could pay together. He hoped he wouldn’t regret trusting Keith’s choice.

When they left the store, they were stuck with the dilemma of finding the others. They decided to split up to round up the others and to meet back by the ticker near the entrance of the mall. Lance opted to find Hunk, hoping to be able to snag some leftovers whilst he was at it.

When Lance and Hunk finally dragged themselves away from the delicious grub, and with Hunk’s arms laden with new ingredients to experiment with, they hurried back to the ticker. Ahead they could see the others waiting and apologised as they finally reached them.

“It’s alright, we’re just waiting for Keith,” Shiro explained.

“Wait, what?” What was he doing?

Luckily they didn’t have to wait long for Keith to rush back. Lance glanced at him curiously, but he couldn’t see anything new or different. Maybe he needed the loo?

 

Back on the Castle, they gathered for dinner (since only Hunk had eaten) and afterwards Lance was looking forward to a quiet evening in his room, when Keith, who Lance had assumed had been heading to his own room, called his name. Lance blinked in surprise as he looked down at the small bag Keith held out to him. He took it, and to his surprise,  
found a shirt inside.

“Shiro hadn’t spent all his money, so I went back to get it. There wasn’t enough for the other shirt you wanted, so I hope this is alright.” Lance pulled out the shirt, his eyebrows rising when he found a blue version of the vest that Lance had picked for Keith. He obviously didn’t reply fast enough, as Keith quickly continued to speak, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I know you don’t tend to spar much, but I noticed you don’t really have any good workout clothes. You don’t even need to use it for that, but since you made the comment about it looking “cool”, I thought you might like it, and blue _is_ good on you. You don’t have to keep it if you don’t want, I’ll get you something next time.”

“No! No. This is fine. Nice. Thanks. For the top, I like it.” Ughh. How did speaking work again?! He was about to get in his room when he stopped, turning to find that Keith had opened his own door. “Show me the clothes I chose for you at some point! I want to make sure my skills aren’t getting rusty!”

“I could try them on now? Just give me a few minutes.” Right. Well… Lance went in his own room whilst he waited, still holding the vest Keith had given him. He glanced at his own bag of clothes and made up his mind.

 

Keith had to admit that the clothes Lance chose were comfy. He didn’t often wear things that weren’t practical, but these seemed good to wear around the Castle. He couldn’t really comment on the colour, well aware that fashion was not his strong point. He left his room and went to knock on Lance’s door. A call for him to wait came from inside, before he heard some shuffling. Odd. 

“Well then, how do I loo-” He had started speaking as he heard Lance approach the door, but stopped when the door opened to reveal lance wearing the blue vest and black trousers.

“That’s much better!” Lance exclaimed, glad to see that his instincts had been right. Then, as Keith failed to reply, Lance remembered what he was wearing, pulling down the bottom of the vest as he examined the geometric design. “Good?” he asked, peeking up at Keith.

“Huh? Ye-Yeah, it looks really good!”

“Maybe we can test the gear tomorrow morning? Fancy a spar to see if you can actually beat me?” Keith smirked at the challenge, raising one eyebrow.

“Aren’t you the one who’s failed to beat me so far?”

“Hey, I won that one time!”

“Hunk and Pidge came running in, shouting about that laser. They distracted me so it doesn’t count!”

“You should always be prepared. You never know what’s gonna happen in a fight!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, see you tomorrow.”

“See ya, Mullet!” Keith shook his head fondly as he went back to his room.

*the next day*

Shiro stretched his arms above his head as he walked down the hallway to the training room. He could hear noise ahead and assumed it must be Keith sparring with the gladiator, seeing as he’d already spotted Allura in the control room with Coran.

“Come on! Is that all you’ve got?!” Odd. Keith never taunted the gladiator whilst training.

“I’m just getting started!” The distinct voice of Lance shocked Shiro, who had just opened the door. He watched in bewilderment as the notorious “not a morning” paladin ducked  
and dived, fluidly weaving around Keith’s strikes. The bout was light-hearted. Perhaps it was because Keith was taking it easy on Lance since it was so early, but they seemed pretty evenly matched.

“Oh, Shiro! Have you seen Lance? He said he’d have an early breakfast, but he wasn’t in his ro- Wait, is that LANCE?! Wow, I didn’t think he could exist before midday! I always had to drag him out of bed at the garrison.”

“Funny, isn’t it? Though I hope this isn’t a one-time-only thing. It would do them both some good to spar against another person.”

“Oh, looks like Lance bought a vest to work out in! I’m surprised he was so practical. Wait…” Hunk leaned further forward, squinting at the combatants. “Does Keith have the same vest?! Wow, matching clothes, huh…” Shiro glanced at the big smile on Hunk’s face, then to the smirks Lance and Keith were sporting. It was nice to see Keith training without a scowl. Shiro _really_ hoped this wouldn’t be a one-time-only thing.

 

A month later, the two are still holding regular sparring matches and one day during breakfast, Lance’s vest is covered with space goo (they _really_ need to fix that dispenser properly). Since Lance doesn’t really have any other light training clothes, Keith lends him his red vest, unwilling to miss out on one of their sessions.  
However, whilst getting changed after practice, Lance notices he’d ripped a small part of the seam. Too embarrassed to admit to it, he offers to swap vests with Keith, unable to form a coherent explanation when Keith inevitably asks why. Keith, taking note of the blush on Lance’s face and his nervous babbling, agrees to it with a similarly red complexion.

When the others ask, they try to convince them that they had always owned the other’s vest. 

“What, no! My vest was always red!” The others let them off, despite not being at all convinced.

The rest of the team is surprised that when they next visit the mall, Keith and Lance immediately split up. When they return, they’re both carrying several bags and show their purchases to the others. All except one, that is.

 

In the morning, Lance hears a knock on his door and he groggily calls for the person to enter, but reluctantly gets up a few moments later when no one does so. Outside his door there is only a small bag containing the top from his first visit to the clothes store. Lance smiles and goes into Keith’s room to leave his own gift on his bed, before heading off to breakfast.

Keith is surprised when he comes back from training to find a box on his bed. When he opens it, it takes a few seconds to recognise what it is. It’s a new scabbard, the perfect size for his blade. He loops his belt through it and relishes in how much lighter it is.

This exchanging of gifts becomes a habit whenever they get the chance to purchase anything from traders, even those they meet on missions. They’ll often get small things for the others as well, who are delighted to join them in giving gifts. However, Lance and Keith never exchange their gifts in person, choosing to leave them somewhere for the other to find. They even have a silent agreement to not explicitly thank the other, though for what reason, neither of them can say. However, they always use and display their gifts as much as possible.

And honestly? That’s the best thank you they could ever want.

 

Many years later, years after the vests had become threadbare from use, and long after they stopped hiding their smiles from one another, they break tradition. The two of them meet in the morning, when the exchange normally occurs, yet both are surprised to see the other heading to their room. They chuckled, reminded of the days when they had hidden their affections for one another. Thank goodness they'd matured enough so they could be open about it. 

They finished laughing, only for both of them to try speaking at once.

“You first.”

“No, you!”

“Okay,” Keith says, drawing in a shaky breath and adopting the determined gleam in his eyes that he got whenever he went into battle. Why does Lance have to love that look?! Suddenly, Keith falls to one knee and opens the small box he held in his hand.

“Lance, I know we’re still young, and this will not be at _all_ traditional or official, but will you-” Lance held up his hand quickly to silence Keith as he shook his head.

“Nonononono…” he muttered under his breath. Keith’s chest tightened at the annoyance in Lance’s voice. He quickly stood up on shaky legs, clearing his throat which had constricted with burning embarrassment which had set his cheeks aflame.

“I’m sorr-”

“I can't believe you'd do this!” Lance exclaimed, before remembering the other paladins’ rooms were nearby and lowering his volume. “Whyyyy…” he whined as Keith took a step back, averting his gaze and hands fumbling with the box, no longer sure what to do with it.

“I really can't beat you, can I, Kogane?” Keith looked up at the soft tone of Lance’s voice, only to watch in shock as Lance fell. Wait- No… “You’re _always_ one step ahead of me!” Lance laughed as he opened the small box in his own hands, almost perfectly mirroring how Keith had been knelt. …No way.

And so went the day when the two finally gave each other their gifts face to face. Yes, the rings were beautiful and utterly unique, but that day they gave more than just the rings to each other.

No, their hearts had already been stolen by the other, years before they ever noticed their absence.

No. 

That day they gave their lives to one another.

And perhaps that was best done face to face.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I hope you enjoyed and that it wasn't too cringe-worthy (I definitely cringed a few times whilst making small tweaks)!  
> I might start slowly adding the headcanons I've written out here (no, I'm DEFINITELY not just procrastinating writing out the others...........)
> 
> Anyway, thanks go to [@vamdates](https://vamdates.tumblr.com/) for the prompt and please check out their blog if you haven't already - they make AMAZING art and are such a nice person!
> 
> Feel free to check out [my blog](https://someonetheelusivefangirl.tumblr.com/) if you're up for a disorganised mess which is 70% Klance content.
> 
> Until the next time!


End file.
